Last Week in Professional Wrestling Today: Vince McMahon's unexpected exit, Riddle pushes Roman Reigns to the brink, Ortiz loses it
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This past week was bananas for professional wrestling. WWE is building towards Money in the Bank, while Mr. McMahon is dealing with personal issues forcing him to temporarily step down as CEO. More to come on that front. AEW is building for Forbidden Door, and it just keeps getting spicier. But let’s start with WWE.
Monday Night Rawness…
Monday Night Raw was great again this week. Paul Heyman opened up the show on Miz TV. He was in the middle of cutting his promo about Riddle v. Roman for the Universal Undisputed Championship. Riddle has been having a fantastic run of late, constantly showing love to his bro, Randy Orton. The Usos showed up to bring the intimidation to Riddle, but just as that happened. Here comes the number 1 contenders The Street Profits. Before the match though, Heyman left Riddle with the stipulation. If Riddle wins, fine, he’s the champ, but if he loses, as long as Roman is champ he can never challenge him again. More to follow later.
More MITB qualifying matches followed. But, this match stole the night. AJ Styles v. Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins. No one in WWE has been on a better role, despite his losing streak to Cody, than the Visionary. Monday Night Rollins is the deal. He’s having great match after great match, and this one was no different. Both AJ and Seth deserve to be in the match, which is why I was surprised it was booked this way. Seth came out victorious after another banger of a match. Having him as the first established competitor in the ladder match.
In typical entertainment value fashion, Bobby Lashley went up against Theory in a ‘pose off.’ Lashley of course won. He’s just a ridiculous athlete. Theory then decided to take his shot at Bobby Lashley spraying him with baby oil. Yeah…I know. Super sus, but funny nonetheless. This will undoubtedly lead to Lashley v. Theory for the United States Championship in the near future.
The Vince McMahon situation…
Before Smackdown officially kicked off the chairman of WWE Vince McMahon addressed the WWE Universe, well, sort of. I mean with the story breaking of him stepping aside for Stephanie McMahon until this investigation concludes, we hoped he would say something to address it, and his daughter. Nah fam, Vinnie Mac is an expert business man. He came out essentially in character, said the WWE slogan, and then said I’m out. Frustrating for fans for sure. But, he knows what he’s doing.
It’s all about the SmackDown…
SmackDown revolved around the Tribal Chief and Riddle, but just hang tight, we will get there. Money in the Bank is in two weeks and we only have one sure competitor announced, until now. Adam Pearce finally addressed the elephant in the room regarding Drew McIntyre and Sheamus from last week’s qualifying match. Sheamus is in. Drew beat the hell out of Sheamus, Pearce apparently forgot to finish the sentence, letting Drew know, he was in the match too. So now we have three big timers in the match. Seth, Drew, Sheamus, and now we wait for the final entrants.
Madcap Moss took on Happy Corbin in a last laugh match, thus ending their feud. It was heavy hitting. It was big moves. As our boy former WWE Champ Big E would put the saying, “big meaty men, slapping meat” (Get better soon E.) After Moss got the pin, Corbin came out of left field going after… Pat Mcafee? Yeah. Corbin apparently has got beef with the energetic commentator. This looks like another match being set up for Summerslam in Nashville. I guess we will have to wait and see what the plan is going forward.
The whole week build up to this moment on SmackDown. Riddle v. Roman for the Undisputed Universal Title. Roman, even with the time off, is in peak form. Riddle gave everything he had to this match. He will no doubt be in the title picture again within the next year. Riddle is a top tier talent for WWE. Thing is, he was dealing with probably the biggest wrestler in the world. Sorry, AEW fans, but it’s a fact. Talent wise is one thing, but the money thing, is with the Tribal Chief. Roman won another amazing match. There’s ‘no one’ left. Roman’s beat everyone. So who could be next. Me talking to myself: Damn it. He’s right, because the guy we wanted to challenge him in Bobby Lashley is tied up with Theory. Who could it be? If you said Brock Lesnar, congrats, AGAIN! HIT THE MUSIC AND THE BEAST SHALL RETURN! The match is set for Summerslam as a last man standing match. Maybe this is just the make up for the original match at Mania as Roman got injured and had to cut the match short. Well, let’s see where we go from here!
All Elite Wrestling madness…
AEW led off with the heated rivalry of The Wizard Chris Jericho and Ortiz in a hair v. hair match. Loser shaves their head. As is the staple now with many of these matches nowadays, it was more blood. But, damned if it wasn’t great. So much built to the end, when for some reason Fuego Del Sol interfered costing Ortiz the match and his hair. Walking up the ramp, Fuego took off his mask to reveal it was actually Sammy Guevara. Crazy surprise as he has distanced himself from Jericho and the crew since the Inner Circle. Blood and Guts will be intense. For real cannot wait for that match.
With Forbidden Door around the corner, New Japan’s Will Ospreay took on Dax of FTR. When I say it was a wrestling match of the year candidate, I am not kidding. No title involved. Nothing on the line but putting on a great show. It was amazing. After Ospreay got the win, we saw the factions make their appearance. We even got the return of some Freshly Squeezed, Orange Cassidy. It’s been awhile, but i can tell you the fans marked out hard AF when his music hit. Hands in the pockets and the aviators in full power, it was DOPE!
Now, with what happened with Jeff Hardy being suspended, they were removed from the AEW tag titles ladder match. We got Jurassic Express and The Young Bucks. This was a match you had to see to understand why it is so hard for me to put into words and describe. Two of the better tag teams in the world showcased why in this one. The Young Bucks came out on top and are the new AEW tag champs. But, that’s not where it ends. Christian Cage came out to check on his team after the defeat. He picked up Jungle Boy, then hit him with The Killswitch. Cage has officially turned heel on AEW and Dynamite went off the air. Look up what Cage says to Jungle Boy’s mom. It would’ve been great to see on television. I laughed though to.
What a good week for fans. Can’t wait to see where either promotion decides to go with their stories. Money in the Bank is coming, so is Forbidden Door. Now we just enjoy the build. Until next week everyone, if you want to continue the conversation drop a comment or find me on Twitter: @zero2hero or IG: Rproctor23 Until next week!
